SOS – Urgent Appeal – Save Our Seabirds

Urgent Appeal – Save Our Seabirds

Government funding cuts have put vital long term seabird research at risk

We need donations urgently in order to continue this year’s work

Dead razorbill washed up

The glorious wildlife of our Pembrokeshire islands is under threat due to an unprecedented combination of environmental damage and financial austerity.

As the effects of climate change and the heavy impacts of commercial fishing take their toll on the wider marine environment, seabird populations around the UK are facing population declines and breeding failures.

Devastating Storm Damage

Recent record-breaking storms have caused massive mortality of birds wintering at sea around the south coast of Britain, including our Skomer and Skokholm birds.

Savage Cuts to Research Funding

Researchers with Iolo Williams on Skomer

Simultaneously, cuts in government funding mean that financial support for research and monitoring is being withdrawn just when we need it the most.

Research is vital in understanding and solving the problems our seabirds are facing.

Skomer and Skokholm – Internationally Important Research Sites

Skomer and Skokholm Islands, both managed by the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales, have uniquely in the UK, provided decades of high quality, internationally recognised monitoring, that has generated the data that help us understand and protect our marine wildlife. One of the most important features of this work is continuity over time.

Funding for 40 year Guillemot Study Withdrawn

Studies of the Guillemot on Skomer led by Professor Tim Birkhead of Sheffield University now provide over forty consecutive years of continuous data. These long term datasets are absolutely critical to our understanding of environmental change, underpin our decisions in marine planning and help us prevent future harm.

Skomer and Skokholm are of particular importance because so far, they have demonstrated more resilience to change than seabirds in the North Sea, and understanding this is vital to their conservation across the UK.

Despite the critical importance of this information funding for long term Guillemot studies has been completely withdrawn.

Other long term studies on the islands of the survival and breeding success of seabirds and seals will also come under increasing threat with reduced funding.

We must find a way to continue this research, or we will not be equipped to protect these populations in the future. We will recover from austerity, but the damage of breaking a long term study can never be recovered.

What Can You Do?

We need to raise £10,000 very quickly in order to ensure the continuity of this year’s research. The intensive fieldwork on our islands needs to start soon, and we need funds to train skilled fieldworkers, provide their equipment and pay for their subsistence whilst on the islands.

Give Today to Help Struggling Seabirds

Dead puffin at Caswell Bay

The British Isles has already seen a considerable decline of some of our most iconic and charismatic seabirds, notably Guillemots and Kittiwakes. Skomer and Skokholm offer a safe haven for many marine birds and our research needs to continue to enable us to understand how we can continue to safeguard these species in the future.

Please give as much as you can afford, to help us learn how to prevent the loss of so many more.

How to Donate Today?

There are a number of quick and easy ways to donate today.

– By Telephone: Call our team on 01656 724100 to donate securely by credit/debit card over the telephone. – By Post: Please download the donation form below, print it, complete it and post it back to the address provided with your cheque. Please don’t forget to include the gift aid declaration if you are a UK taxpayer.